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Cairo - Thousands of supporters of Egypt's ousted Islamist
president Mohamed Morsi Thursday celebrated Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim
holy month of Ramadan, defying government calls for them to leave the streets.

However there was no immediate sign that the government was
readying to carry out its threat made Wednesday to remove Islamist protest
camps set up to demand Morsi's reinstatement following his ouster by the army
on 3 July.

Under a cloud of balloons, thousands of men, women and
children attended the dawn prayer marking the end of the fasting month in the
Rabaa al-Adawiya and Al-Nahda squares, where Morsi's supporters have been
camped for weeks calling for his reinstatement.

Egypt's army-installed government vowed on Wednesday to
remove the protest camps, saying it had refrained from doing so out of
"solicitude for the holy month of Ramadan".

But leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood from which Morsi hails
called for rallies "until victory", raising fears of further bloody
confrontations.

Giving warning of the looming showdown, government daily
Al-Gumhuriya Thursday ran the headlines "Last warning" and "The
hour of battle approaches".

Several thousand supporters of the ousted president also
marched in other parts of Egypt, including in Alexandria, the country's second
city, and in Qena in the south.

The warning to the protesters came after Egypt's interim
presidency said on Wednesday that Western and Arab efforts to mediate an end to
the country's political deadlock had failed.

Deeply divided

US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns left Cairo on
Tuesday without making headway in finding a compromise between the government
and Morsi's supporters.

"These efforts have not achieved the hoped for
results," the presidency said, referring to mediation by Burns and EU
envoy Bernardino Leon, who were among a string of diplomats who had travelled
to Cairo.

The presidency said it "holds the Muslim Brotherhood
completely responsible for the failure of these efforts, and for consequent
events and developments relating to violations of the law and endangering
public safety".

Egypt is deeply divided over Morsi's ouster, and violence in
the margins of demonstrations between his supporters and opponents has killed
more than 250 people - mostly Morsi's backers - since the end of June.

The government had already ordered police to end the sit-ins
and protests, which it described as a "national security threat," but
held off amid the intense diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful resolution.

The UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged the release of Morsi, who has
been formally remanded in custody and is being held incommunicado at an
undisclosed location.

Washington on Wednesday urged Egypt's military and political
factions to resolve their differences through dialogue.

"We absolutely do not believe that the time for
dialogue has passed. We will continue this conversation, and it certainly
remains a priority of ours and obviously a priority of the EU and other
officials around the world who've been involved," State Department spokesperson
Jen Psaki said.

Shootings of protesters

Western envoys had pressured the Brotherhood to end its
sit-ins, according to Islamists who attended the talks. They also demanded that
the government release jailed Islamist leaders as a confidence-building
measure.

Morsi himself is being held on suspicion of having
collaborated with Palestinian militants to kill policemen and stage jail breaks
during an early 2011 uprising against strongman Hosni Mubarak, while Morsi was
in prison.

The Brotherhood's supreme guide, Mohamed Badie, and his
deputies are to stand trial later this month on charges of inciting the
shootings of protesters outside their headquarters on 30 June.

The government says it is up to the judiciary to release
prisoners. The Islamists say their release is a precondition for further talks
on finding a settlement, which could include symbolically reinstating Morsi,
who would then call early elections.

Authorities have promised demonstrators a safe exit and said
ending their protests would allow the Brotherhood to return to political life.

More than 80 protesters were killed in clashes with police
at the main sit-in outside Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque on June 27.

Over 50 people died in earlier clashes with soldiers outside
an elite army base.

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